Off Balance Sheet

What it is:

Off balance sheet refers to items that are effectively assets or liabilities of a company but do not appear on the company's balance sheet.

How it works/Example:

For example, let's assume that Company XYZ has a $4,000,000 line of credit with Bank ABC. The line of credit comes with a financial covenant that requires Company XYZ to stay below a 0.5 debt-to-equity ratio at all times. Company XYZ wants to buy a new piece of equipment. The new machine costs $1,000,000, but Company XYZ does not have the cash to make the purchase. If it uses debt to buy it, the company will violate the covenant on its line of credit. Therefore, Company XYZ needs to find another way to obtain a the machine.

To solve the problem, Company XYZ creates a separate entity that will purchase the equipment and then lease it to Company XYZ via an operating lease. This way, even though Company XYZ has virtually complete control of and responsibility for the machine, it only records its monthly lease expense on its income statement; it does not have to record the additional debt on its balance sheet, and it does not record an increase in assets (because it does not legally own the equipment). XYZ used off-balance-sheet financing to acquire an asset without having to record the transaction as such on its balance sheet.

Why it Matters:

Other examples of off-balance-sheet financing includes the sale of receivables under certain conditions, guarantees or letters of credit, joint ventures, or research and development activities. Often, companies set up special-purpose vehicles (SPVs) or special-purpose entities (SPEs) that have their own balance sheets, and companies then place the assets or liabilities in question on the SPEs' balance sheets.

Off-balance-sheet financing is most often used in order to comply with financial covenants. However, companies also use off-balance-sheet financing to preserve borrowing capacity (for example, when a company is close to hitting its limit on a borrowing line or would like to use its borrowing line for something else), lower their borrowing rates, or manage risk. The strategy, however, has had a bad reputation since it was famously used by former energy giant Enron.

It very important to note that off-balance-sheet financing transactions are not invisible, as many people believe. Rather, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) require companies to disclose these and other financing arrangements in the notes to their financial statements. Savvy investors know to look at these notes for information and insight. Additionally, GAAP rules are very particular regarding how to record off-balance-sheet items, and managers who do not know these rules or do not apply these rules properly can face considerable consequences.

Best execution refers to the imperative that a broker, market maker, or other agent acting on behalf of an investor is obligated to execute the investor's order in a way that is most advantageous to the investor rather than the agent.

Launched in 2009, InvestingAnswers' mission is to help individual investors build and protect their wealth by providing 100% unbiased investment ideas and education.

We've invested millions of dollars to create hundreds of free articles and the industry's most investor-friendly financial dictionary on the web, making InvestingAnswers one of the premier resources for thousands of investors around the world.